In residential and other structures, electrical outlets are generally positioned a short distance above the floor. This makes the outlets readily accessible to small children. A curious child is inclined to test and probe his environment and may stick objects, such as paper clips, into the prong receiving openings of an electrical outlet. This exposes him to the danger of shock or even death.
Additionally, an exposed outlet presents the problem of xe2x80x9ccarbon firesxe2x80x9d that can occur when dust accumulates in an outlet.
In spite of generally widespread knowledge of the dangers that electrical outlets present to small children, very few devices are commercially available for denying a child access to an outlet. The most commonly available device is a small plastic disk with prongs that plug into the openings of an outlet receptacle. The disk covers the receptacle and takes the place of an electrical plug to prevent insertion of any other object in the openings. A major disadvantage of this type of device is that the disk may easily become lost or mislaid when it is temporarily removed to allow normal use of the outlet.
There have been a number of proposals for providing a permanently mounted safety cover for electrical outlets to make the prong receiving openings inaccessible to a child. Such proposals generally provide an inadequate solution either because the safety cover is too easily defeated by a child who is still too young to understand the dangers of electricity or because the covering device is unduly complicated and/or cumbersome.
It is desired to have an improved electrical outlet safety cover that avoids some of the problems of the prior art.
One embodiment of the present invention uses a safety cap including prongs made of a non-electrically conductive material which is attached to a bendable section for rotating the prongs from a position outside an electrical outlet to a position inside an electrical outlet and an adhesive section for connecting the cap to a standard electrical outlet cover plate. The use of the adhesive section allows the cover to be placed on the standard electrical outlet. This embodiment can be made relatively cheaply. Such an embodiment can be a xe2x80x9cTxe2x80x9d-shaped plastic member with molded-in prongs; a dual unit hinged at a center cross-member; or a cover having an adhesive strip around its frame-like shape. Tabs can be used on the cap to make the cap removal easier. A ridge on the cover back can acts as a pivot when the cap is pressed so that the tab may be easily gripped.
Another embodiment uses a pair of electrically non-conductive, slidable plates. Each plate includes some type of spring to purposefully misalign apertures in the plate and the respective outlet slots to prevent access to the outlet slots. The outlet can be accessed by squeezing the plates together. An elongated member is used to contact a spring on the other plate. Alternately, the elongated member can fit into a spring groove to bias the plates apart into the closed position.
Locking pins can be used to lock the plates onto an aperture at the base of a plug""s power prong. The locking pins can be disengaged by squeezing the plates together or by pulling on the plug with some predetermined amount of force. The required predetermined amount of force should be large enough to deter children from removing the plug but small enough to prevent damage to the outlet. The amount of force is the result of the size and material, preferably memory plastic, of the locking pin.
Each receptacle is preferably designed to require two hands to operate so that children will be less likely to accidently remove the plug.
The invention may include a recessed perimeter around each electrical outlet (or an extending lip around each electrical outlet) which mates with a respective lip (or recess) of a plug portion to provide an interlocking interface between the plug and outlet cover. This feature will prevent a child from being able to insert a metal object between the plug and the face-plate.
The devices of the present invention may include a lighting device such as an LED or neon lighting device incorporated into the body of the face-plate; an illuminated sign; or a chemiluminescent device.
Additionally, the faceplate may include a coaxial or video cable connection; a button camera or video xe2x80x9ceyexe2x80x9d 106; telephone receiver jack(s); and/or a motion sensor and/or infrared sensor.
The AC wiring may be used to carry the individual signals for each component. The motion sensor can be used to trigger the video eye and send message to a main computer. This enables the safety cover of the present invention to be used as a security/surveillance device. The coaxial output port may be adapted to provide conventional cable TV signals, and/or the video signal from the video eye.